UPDATE: Toews, Kane sign 5 year deals, Keith signs a 13 year deal

shabbs wrote:Heh. In true DTR fashion... clear as mud.



No doubt the core will be locked up. Makes sense, every team does it.

It will be interesting to see what pieces are moved out to free space. Some nice, very desirable talent on that roster. I'm sure the offers will be coming from all over the NHL.

And that, is what I think.

@Shabbs> Mistress Michelle is more your style, eh.

davetherave wrote:

shabbs wrote:Heh. In true DTR fashion... clear as mud.



No doubt the core will be locked up. Makes sense, every team does it.

It will be interesting to see what pieces are moved out to free space. Some nice, very desirable talent on that roster. I'm sure the offers will be coming from all over the NHL.

And that, is what I think.

@Shabbs> Mistress Michelle is more your style, eh.

I'll tell you after I meet her...

shabbs wrote:

Gohan wrote:

asq2 wrote:Remember when Ottawa lost Havlat, Chara and Hasek in one off-season because they weren't part of the "core"?

Ouch.

On the other hand, we also subsequently made the Cup Finals.

Remember when we subsequently tanked following that Cup Finals?

But man did we have a great start to that season eh? We Diddling OWNED those first 19 games.

It was a little bit more like 14 games we were .500 for the next 6 to get to 16-4

Gohan wrote:

shabbs wrote:

Gohan wrote:

asq2 wrote:Remember when Ottawa lost Havlat, Chara and Hasek in one off-season because they weren't part of the "core"?

Ouch.

On the other hand, we also subsequently made the Cup Finals.

Remember when we subsequently tanked following that Cup Finals?

But man did we have a great start to that season eh? We Diddling OWNED those first 19 games.

It was a little bit more like 14 games we were .500 for the next 6 to get to 16-4

Still... a great 14 games... if only the season was 14 games long...



Bah.

...we'd be a 1970's NFL franchise

Gohan wrote:I'm pretty sure it was all about the Oleg "super" Saprykin He is what made that team tick.

I thought it was Oleg "freakin,' squeakin,' Mozambican, reekin'" Saprykin.

Or just Sapryking.

Man, if he suffered a lower-body injury you could call him Noleg Saprykin. The possibilities are endless.

EDIT: Boy is this off-topic.

asq2 wrote:I don't think DTR's covering his meaning much here.

It's a valid point: the 'Hawks have a lot of depth talent that would be desirable for a number of teams: Barker, Versteeg, Sharp, Byfuglien, etc. Madden can be dumped as well.

I'm more dubious about being able to get rid of Campbell and Huet, though. And while it's probably doable to re-sign TKK and keep those two, if you factor in Hossa's money as well, they won't have any room for depth.

Of course, that's what we said about the Sharks when they acquired ____, and they seem to be doing alright so far.

@ASQ> you are correct in identifying the Sharks as a valid comparison.

As are the Penguins. Despite not having Hossa, Ruutu, Conklin, Malone, Whitney, Roberts, Armstrong, Christensen, Sydor, Recchi and Laraque from 2008 Cup Finals--which is significant turnover--they won the Cup in 2009.

Ray Shero was very candid about how cap considerations impacted his decisions.

Shero takes a low-key approach to change, and Stan Bowman has a similar perspective.

Bowman always says he's evaluating the situation, which is what he does. He plays his cards close to the vest.

Bottom line is, the Blackhawks don't have to make any changes this season.

The Blackhawks have adopted a 'system first' approach as a result of Scotty Bowman's influence which made the Red Wings so successful.

Taking an objective view--which I do--of team, I see that last year taught the Blackhawks what separated them from the very top teams like Detroit. The Hawks had a number of weaknesses that they had to correct. And they have put the lessons they have learned to good use...so far.

It's all about filling a defined role within defined team strategy. The individual scoring numbers are secondary.

Depth? The Hawks are first in the Central right now, despite missing Hossa, Burish, and Bolland--that's two starting centers and their designated sniper--and previously Toews, Eager and Seabrook. That's evidence of depth.

Joel Quenneville has emphasized the importance of being able to "play in all situations". That is what they are working towards.

Being the best or among the best on faceoffs, lowest shots against, PK, and 3rd best defensively in the league aren't sexy numbers, but they represent critical facets of the game.

The objective the Blackhawks have set for themselves is to be a team that plays a strong two-way game at all times. They are accomplishing that, and winning in the process.

And some of these wins, like the latest comeback against the Sharks, and the earlier one against the Flames, have been impressive by any standard.

The difference between the 2009 Hawks and the '08 version is that this one is less flashy, but more efficient.

Former Stanley Cup and Selke winner, Hawks broadcaster and WGN Radio analyst Troy Murray, has compared this team favorably in terms of their character, talent and approach, to the best ones he played with in Chicago from 1981-91, with Al Secord, Steve Larmer, Doug Wilson and Denis Savard.

I can tell you, from listening to his work on a regular basis, Murray is as unsparing in his criticism as he is accurate in his praise.

He feels the Blackhawks have the elements in place to be a Stanley Cup contender; but more importantly, he feels their system and 'team first' mentality give the Hawks a chance to continue as a contender.

Even if certain players are moved between now and October 2010, the personnel that remain, and the personnel they put in place, will, most probably, be well equipped to get the job done.

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/david-kaplan-chicago-sports/2009/12/breaking-news-toews-kane-keith-sign-new-deals.html

Done deal apparently. Bramlet also heard it on Sportsnet.

So what was the deal with the "tag up" for next year? Did they clear salary that I don't know about yet?

They probably have till the deadline, no?

Dash wrote:They probably have till the deadline, no?

The trade deadline? I don't know to be honest. I understood that your cap hit for the following year cannot exceed this year's cap number. So, I'm not sure what they're planning on doing, but they're gonna be so close. Like...basically one miscalculated bonus away from being in breach of the tag rule.

Whatever the heck that does.

Can we agree to make new threads for actual deals? I know it's related and you want to save on bandwidth, but it's pretty annoying thinking that the first page will have the initial info, relevant to the title, when in fact it's in the middle of some random page...

Not an issue in this thread, but it has been at other times, especially when the news breaks here before any credible source...

It would be appreciated.

Interested in hearing the numbers...

SpezDispenser wrote:So what was the deal with the "tag up" for next year? Did they clear salary that I don't know about yet?

There seems to be an assumtion that a trade is going to be made before the press conference tomorrow but who knows teams have been getting could at bypassing the CBA.

shabbs wrote:Interested in hearing the numbers...

I'm assuming you mean the 'actual' salary from year-to-year but if not

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=300811

Gohan wrote:Can we agree to make new threads for actual deals? I know it's related and you want to save on bandwidth, but it's pretty annoying thinking that the first page will have the initial info, relevant to the title, when in fact it's in the middle of some random page...

Not an issue in this thread, but it has been at other times, especially when the news breaks here before any credible source...

It would be appreciated.

Fair enough. I didn't know if people wanted a new thread or not.

If there was ever a time for a Lee + Shannon for Barker + Aliu, now is it.

shabbs wrote:Interested in hearing the numbers...

Me too. Any last minute guesses?

I'll say 5.5, 5.5 and 4.75 (for Keith).